EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year program honored 49 regional finalists at the 2017 Southwest Awards Gala at Dallas’ Hilton Anatole last Saturday.
The finalists, all from the program’s Southwest region, represented 41 different companies—from a small, McKinney-based honey company to a Dallas-based international convenience-store chain. The Master Entrepreneur Of The Year award was presented to Craig and Kathryn Hall of the Hall Group, a diversified company in fields including finance and commercial real estate development. Read more about this year’s nominees here.
The winners will compete for national recognition in November at EY’s Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Springs, Calif.

This year’s winners are:
Master Entrepreneur Of The Year
Craig Hall and Kathryn Hall
Chairman; Co-Proprietor/Partner, Hall Group
Retail Master Entrepreneur Of The Year
Joseph DePinto
President and CEO, 7-Eleven Inc.
Social Entrepreneur Of The Year
Nathan Sheets
President and Chief Steward, Nature Nate’s
Health
Dr. Sulman Ahmed
Founder and CEO, DECA Dental
Consumer Products
Suzy Bátiz
Founder and CEO, Poo~Pourri
Retail
Lewis L. Bird III
Chairman and CEO, At Home
Real Estate & Construction
Dallas Tanner and John Bartling
President and CEO; Founder, EVP and CIO, Invitation Homes
Business and Financial Services
Aaron Graft
Founder, Vice Chairman, and CEO, Triumph Bancorp Inc.
Technology & Media Services
Greg Brown
President and CEO, LearField Communications LLC
Technology
Robert Michelson
CEO, RMG Networks Inc.
Emerging Consumer Products
Dan Flaherty and Jason McCann
Founder; CEO, VARIDESK
Emerging Services
Nicholas Kennedy
Founder and CEO, Rise Air
Emerging Technology
Stephanie Alsbrooks
Founder and CEO, Defi Solutions